(Lex 18) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating organ donation practices after Kentucky's organizations are said to have begun harvesting organs from people who may not be dead.
The House Subcommittee held a hearing on Tuesday regarding the lapse of organ donation safety. Some of them relate to Kentucky's nonprofit network for Hope, which merged with Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliate (KODA).
Donna Lawler says her brother, TJ Hoover, was declared brain dead after suffering from an overdose in October 2021, but she says she tried to harvest the organs while doctors still showed signs of life.
Rhorer says TJ's eyes are open and they are tracking the movements as their families gather during an honorary walk and say goodbye before organ donation surgery.
“As soon as his honorary walk began, his eyes were opened and they were chasing him and looking around the people there,” Rhorer said.
Approximately 45 minutes after TJ was taken to the operating room, Rhorer says the doctor informed his family that the procedure had stopped.
“She said, 'I stopped it, he's not ready, he's awake,” Lawler said.
Natasha Miller, who worked as a surgical conservator in the Koda TJ case, confirmed that he had shown signs of life during the procedure.
“He was moving a lot, he was just being rashed and he wasn't calm,” Miller said.
According to Miller, who was gone with Koda, TJ's declared doctors believed they had shown too many signs of life to continue the surgery, but Koda wanted to proceed anyway.
Rhorer didn't fully learn what happened until he was contacted by Nyckoletta Martin, former surgical conservation coordinator for Koda, who was due to take over the TJ case.
“I was taken to the Caslab in the Heart that morning, he was paralyzed and sedated, and I was really surprised to see how he moved forward with the OR. The hospital staff said they were incredibly anxious and calling it euthanasia,” Martin said. “The cardiologist said he didn't know why TJ was given a poor prognosis and said it didn't look brain dead.”
According to a Koda survey conducted by Human Resources & Services Administration, Hoover was treated as a cyclical death and was not labeled as Brain Dead. A letter sent to a contract investigator who considered the lawsuit, which stated that “potential donors were treated according to DCD's standard protocols (postcirculating donations).”
The survey summary states that Koda staff's notes in internal electronic medical records, “It presents a story of events that could have caused preventable harm to patient KYDA-001 (Hoover).”
Martin resigned from Koda shortly after TJ's case. Rhorer says TJ is currently suffering from PTSD due to trauma, and both women are advocating for reforms in organ donation.
“TJ was able to fight for his life… and he's still here. And there are other people still here. But there are a lot that isn't,” Rhorer said.
Network for Hope responded to inquiries about TJ's case and Tuesday's hearing.
“The Parliamentary Committee hearing on our country's organ procurement organizations was an important step to increase transparency for the millions of people who chose to register to become organ donors across the country. It also provided a valuable opportunity to clarify Opus' plays and highlight the life-saving work being done by organizations like networks for hope, organ donors.
Barry Massa, CEO of Network for Hope
